PERHAPS they'd have been better off playing on the beach as Blackpool's Stanley Park provided another nail in the coffin of outgrounds yesterday.

The fall of 18 wickets on the first day of Durham's match against Lancashire left the hosts on 137 for eight in reply to Durham's 166.

Given Ottis Gibson's form it seems unlikely that Lancashire asked for a "result" pitch, backing their seamers to out-bowl Durham's, especially as they would also be risking a points deduction.

That might still happen, with pitch liaison officer Phil Sharpe confirming that he would convene an inspection panel today, and it could be very damaging to Lancashire's title hopes.

Durham's championship aspirations were thrown into sharp perspective by an inspired spell of bowling from Glen Chapple.

Having won what looked a crucial toss and battled hard to reach 91 for one at lunch, Durham were routed by Chapple's career-best figures of seven for 53.

Gibson then bent his back to exploit the uneven bounce at the pavilion end, where Chapple had taken his wickets, and Lancashire slumped to 13 for four.

At that point 13 wickets had fallen in 34 overs after the morning session, when Chapple bowled from the other end, yielded only one.

Then after Gibson rested only one wicket went down in 20 overs, but on his return he struck with his first ball then took two more to finish the day with six for 44.

Defying the heat on a glorious day, Chapple bowled 13 overs off the reel after lunch and started the carnage in the fourth of those.

At that point he was in his 14th over and with figures of none for 26 he must have been starting to think it wasn't his day as Ben Harmison had just survived a regulation chance to third slip.

But the next ball swung into the left-hander to bowl him off a thin inside edge and the next two victims played on off thicker edges.

Michael Di Venuto had made 78 when he went for a square drive and dragged the ball into his stumps then Gordon Muchall followed for a duck after being beaten several times.

Durham had realised during their morning's graft that it was not a pitch on which to take liberties, but it was still beyond comprehension that Chapple should suddenly become unplayable.

Low bounce contributed to three men playing on, and much steeper lift accounted for three of the next four.

Even Dale Benkenstein struggled as he edged successive balls just short of the slips then just wide of them for four. It took him to 15 but it proved to be his last scoring stroke as the next edge carried comfortably to first slip.

Phil Mustard also made 15 and he too was playing back when he was adjudged to have edged to wicketkeeper Luke Sutton, although he clearly felt the ball had brushed his upper arm.

Gibson also edged to Sutton and Liam Plunkett was Chapple's other victim, slicing a drive fiercely to gully, where home skipper Mark Chilton took a superb catch above his head.

Chapple had taken seven successive wickets as Sajid Mahmood took the first two, while Dominic Cork claimed the last one when Paul Wiseman tried to withdraw his bat and edged to first slip.

All went well in the morning, although Mark Stoneman was a little fortunate to survive a searching examination by Chappell during an opening stand of 57.

He scampered a single to get off the mark in the fourth over thene fr id-wicket off Cork.

But he may have regretted taking another single to get back to Chapple's end as he played and missed several times and shouldered arms to one which just missed his off stump.

The only other real fright in the first 20 overs came with Di Venuto on 22, when he set off for a very risky run to and would have been run out had Chilton hit the stumps coming in from point.

When Mahmood replaced Cork he mixed attempted yorkers with short balls and posed little threat until a full-length delivery rattled Stoneman's off stump. The youngster's 24 proved to be the second highest score.

Many of Di Venuto's pulls and cuts brought him singles as the field was set to cut off his favourites shots, and he had only five fours in his 87-ball half-century, which was his 12th of the season in the championship.

Kyle Coetzer looked in no difficulty in reaching 11 at lunch, but he shaped to drive the second ball afterwards and edged to second slip.

That started the procession, which continued when Chilton tried to work the fourth ball of Lancashire's innings to leg and looked aghast to be given out lbw.

In his second over the fired-up Gibson hit Paul Horton on both shoulders before the batsman edged to third slip, where Harmison took an excellent right-handed catch.

Davies, preferred to Graham Onions, had Steven Croft caught at the wicket, then Stuart Law tried to hook Gibson and skied to Davies at fine leg.

At 19 for four after 12 overs Harmison replaced Davies and after his first over cost ten runs Durham's lack of back-up was further underlined when Plunkett came on at the danger end and began with two wides.

The fifth wicket stand was worth 43 when Plunkett had V V S Laxman lbw for 25, but it required another burst from Gibson to make further inroads.

He struck with the first ball of his second spell, which Chapple followed well wide of off stump and edged to Di Venuto at second slip.

Six overs later Cork edged a drive to Muchall at first slip then the perfect yorker took out Oliver Newby's off stump.

But Sutton stood firm to reach his half-century in the final over and it looks like being honours even when both teams attempt to do better in their second innings.